Chapter 19

Ruby

Although the growing number of comments is horrible and traumatizing, I just can’t bring myself to tear my eyes away from my phone screen. My surroundings fade into the distance, and it feels as though I’m nothing but a floating pair of eyeballs in a void staring at a screen.

“Is this really Ruby Jones? The new girl?”

“omg, these pics are so slutty!!”

“who goes 2 a buffet and steals the food like that?”

“LOL, look at her stuffing her face! she’s such a pig”

“there’s no way this pariah is an aristocrat. #expelrubyjones”

“Hahahah, it’s her third day here and someone already hates her enough to post these! I think that might be a world record.”

“should i retweet this? i think i should retweet this. lol #whorethief”

I can feel a pounding headache suddenly coming on as the bile rises in my throat. Is no one going to say anything about this slander? It’s nothing but cruelty. I was clearly drugged and taken advantage of, although I don’t remember much more than flashes of dark figures looming above me as I faded in and out of consciousness at the party.

And sure, I took a couple of cookies from the buffet for my sister. No one else was eating them, and besides, Earl said it was okay!

Did he lie to me?

My mind flashes to when Earl was called away from me at the dance. Donna had come over very quickly after that and had coerced me into drinking… Were they in on this together? Earl seems so sweet, I find it hard to believe but I’m quickly learning that no one can be trusted in this school. Even my own friend, Nancy, has already turned on me.

“Ruby?”

A distant voice calls my name, but my mind is entirely fixated on the comments before me.

“Miss Jones!”

I’m startled by a ruler smacking hard on my desk and look up to see the professor standing angrily in front of me. All of the other students have already taken their seats and now all look at me with smirks.

It seems as though class has started, and I was so absorbed in my phone that I didn’t even notice.

“I know you’ve only been here a few days, Ruby, but it should go without saying that phones aren’t allowed in class.”

My face turns beet red as I shut off my phone and place it in the professor’s outstretched hand.

“You can have this back after class,” the teacher says, walking to her desk and placing it in a drawer.

“Now, where were we? Ah, chapter three… Hmm… Jonathan, why don’t you start by refreshing the class on what happened at the end of chapter two last week?”

The student named Jonathan stands and begins answering the professor’s question, but before he’s three sentences in I entirely lose focus again.

It had to have been Donna who did this to me, along with her creepy boyfriend Ethan. There isn’t anyone else that I can think of who would hate me so much already other than those two. Things got really fuzzy really fast soon after I finished the glass of champagne, so I don’t quite remember, but… I think it was one of Ethan’s teammates who put his arm around me and took me to wherever it was that they violated me.

At this point, I’m fuming. I can feel the anger rising in me. Anger at Donna and Ethan for ruining my reputation like this, anger at Alice for intentionally sabotaging me on my first day, anger at Atwood for not listening to me, anger at Earl for potentially being involved in this scheme… and anger at Nancy, too, for believing a stupid anonymous social media account rather than letting me explain what happened.

I want to go home.

Not back to the castle, but home. Back to my village. I’ll go back to taking care of Tamara and myself, just like always. I’ll work hard to repair our broken little house and fill it with more joy than the castle could ever have. I’ll marry Cayden, and even if my wolf never appears I know we’ll live a good life together.

“Ruby, do you know the answer?”

I’m suddenly yanked out of thought again by the professor’s question. I glance at the clock to see that it’s been an entire fifteen minutes since the professor scolded me over my phone.

“I… Um…” I stammer. My palms start to sweat and I can feel my face get hot.

The professor sighs and folds her arms across her chest, glaring at me over the top of her glasses.

“I guess since you’ve been doing nothing but daydreaming today, you should just go and stand in the hallway until class is over,” she says.

“No, I’m sorry, it’s just-” I begin, but the professor cuts me off.

“I don’t want to hear it, Miss Jones. Hallway, now.”

I can feel the other students’ eyes on me as I gather my things and walk toward the front of the class. Someone snickers, and another person slyly sticks out their foot to make me stumble as I walk past. There’s no holding back the tears now. As soon as I leave the room, the tears start to flow.

The professor shuts the door behind me. I drop my book bag to the floor and lean against the wall, sliding down so that I’m sitting, then put my head in my knees and let out a few quiet sobs.

“Stupid Donna,” I whisper to myself as I clench my fists.

I’m not sure how long I sit with my head down, but at some point I hear the sound of heels clicking and coming toward me on the marble floors. I look up and am unable to suppress my groan.

It’s Donna and her little clique.

I quickly put my head back down, hoping that maybe she won’t recognize me and will just keep walking, but it’s too late. Besides, my white hair is a dead giveaway.

“Aw, look who got kicked out of class,” Donna says in a condescending tone. “Did you try to spread your chubby little legs for a good grade from the professor?”

I jerk my head up and glare at her as she continues.

“Waaahh, pwease pwofessor, don’t give me a failing grade! I’ll do anything,” she says in a fake baby voice. Her bitchy little cronies laugh right along with her and make lewd gestures at me.

Donna crouches down in front of me. “You have no business being in this school,” she snarls. Her face has dropped from a mocking expression to one of disgust and malice.

“You look even uglier when you’re angry,” I whisper. Donna’s face twists even more and her hand shoots out to grab a fistful of my hair. She twists her hand, causing me to yelp in pain.

“It’s better for everyone if you just leave and go back to your little shithole in the woods,” she says with a smirk.

Suddenly, I get another vision.

Donna and Ethan lay on her bed together. Donna holds her phone above her face, and they’re both looking at something on the screen. She types rapidly, giggling to herself.

“That little bitch will be gone before she knows it,” she says, then drops her phone to the side and climbs on top of Ethan. She slides back and forth on his crotch, causing him to moan.

“I’ll kill her if I have to,” she says.

I snap out of the vision. Donna is still holding my hair in her fist and her face is inches from mine.

“What the fuck was that face you just made?” she says with a grin. “God, you’re just so ugly!”

I’ve had enough.

I reach up and grab Donna’s wrist, hard, twisting it away from me as I bare my teeth at her.

“Get the fuck away from me,” I growl. It feels as though a powerful force has taken over me, like there’s something inside of me that wants to get out and enact vengeance on Donna and her little friends.

“Ow!” she screams, trying to pry her hand away. “Teacher, help! She’s attacking me!”

As the classroom door swings open and the professor comes rushing out to see what’s going on, I come to my senses and drop Donna’s wrist. She holds her wrist, whimpering.

“What is going on out here?” the professor yells. Donna points at me.

“Ruby is crazy! She grabbed my wrist and tried to bite me!”

The professor looks at me with wide eyes. “No,” I say, “that’s not what happened!” But the professor won’t listen to me.

“I’ve had enough with you,” the professor says. She grabs my arm and yanks me to my feet, practically dragging me along behind her. “You’re going to the headmaster’s office, now.”

As the professor drags me away, I look over my shoulder at Donna.

She’s grinning from ear to ear.